(Reuters) – A 2,000-gallon diesel spill that originated at a hospital facility in Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday tainted a waterfront in a popular tourist spot in the city, but there was no impact on drinking water in the area, officials said on Thursday.
The spill originated from a Johns Hopkins Hospital facility near the marina and was initially estimated at only 100 gallons, the office of Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement.
The spill has been contained in the marina in Harbor East, an area roughly 100 by 250 yards, the statement added.
Moore’s office said that the water in the area had turned red due to dye in the diesel fuel, and that the U.S. Coast Guard was working with a contractor on cleanup efforts.
“My team and I are currently onsite at Fells Point, where there’s been an oil spill of unknown origins,” Moore said in a post on X earlier on Wednesday, before the origin of the spill was identified. Fells Point is a historic, waterfront neighborhood in the city.
Johns Hopkins Hospital was engaged in response, according to the governor’s statement. The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru. Editing by Mark Potter)
